Kerry urges Kurds to save Iraq from collapse
1:18

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry makes a trip to Iraq's Kurdish region to call on local leaders to work with Baghdad to stem an insurgency by Sunni militants. Deborah Gembara reports.

Reuters

26 Jun 2014

News/World

Protection ... an Iraqi volunteer force trains in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad. Picture: Ahmed al-HusseiniSource: AP

IRAQ has not asked for help against Sunni militants, its ambassador to Tehran said Tuesday as Baghdad government forces held off assaults on a key town and oil refinery.

The remarks by Mohammed Majid al-Sheikh came after Iranian leaders repeatedly said they were ready to assist Baghdad against the insurgency that has swept up a swathe of northern and north-central Iraq.

“Iran has played an important role in supporting Iraq politically,” Mr Sheikh said at a news conference in Tehran.

However, “we have not asked any country to come and defend Iraq and the Iraqi people,” he said.

‘We have not asked any country to come and defend Iraq’ ... the ambassador of Iraq in Iran, Majid al-Sheikh. Picture: Atta KenareSource: AFP

Iran, the predominant Shiite power in the Middle East, has said it will support ally Iraq and protect its Shiite holy places against the Sunni Arab militants led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

But both President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have stopped short of saying what form such assistance might take.

In Tehran, hundreds of people rallied on Tuesday afternoon in support of defending Iraq’s Shiite holy sites.

US Secretary of State John Kerry pledged “intense” American support on Tuesday for the Baghdad government’s fightback against the insurgents and called for Iraqi unity.

‘Intense’ support ... US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, arrives at the airport in Irbil, Iraq. Picture: Brendan SmialowskiSource: AP

Mr Sheikh said Baghdad had “a strategic agreement with the Americans which depends on an Iraqi request” for military assistance.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at the weekend he was against any foreign intervention in Iraq, accusing the United States of seeking to “take advantage of fanatics with no will of their own,” a reference to ISIL.